Was there a female astronaut program?

The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women who, as part of a privately funded program, successfully underwent the same physiological screening tests as had the astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959, for Project Mercury.

Who was first female astronaut?

Sally K. Ride (May 26, 1951–July 23, 2012) became the first American woman in space in 1983. She was one of six women selected to enter the astronaut corps in 1978. While all six women flew on space shuttle missions, Ride was the first selected to go into space.

When did NASA start allow female astronauts?

On June 18, 1983, NASA astronaut Sally Ride became the first U.S. woman in space when she launched on the STS-7 mission of the space shuttle Challenger. She was the third woman in space, after Valentina Tereshkova and Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, who flew on the Soyuz T-7 mission on Aug. 19, 1982.

How many women are in the latest class of NASA astronauts?

The latest class of NASA astronauts, selected in 2013, includes four women and four men. What’s most interesting, Weitekamp says, is not the gender parity. Two of the women have something the earliest female astronauts couldn’t: military backgrounds. One of them, Anne McClain, is an Army major who flew helicopters during combat missions in Iraq.

Why are female pilots tested differently than male pilots?

After all, women are, on average, lighter and smaller than men, and require less oxygen. So he started testing female pilots at his clinic in New Mexico in 1960, subjecting them to the same tests the male candidates faced. Thirteen of 19 women passed the tests, compared to 18 of 32 men.

When did the United States start sending women to space?

By that time, the United States had been sending women to space for about 10 years, starting with Sally Ride’s mission in 1983. American astronauts were starting to look less and less like the pioneers that first pierced the boundary between the atmosphere and what lies beyond.

Who was the first African American woman to go to space?

She flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor in September 1992 for a weeklong mission, becoming the first African-American woman in space. By that time, the United States had been sending women to space for about 10 years, starting with Sally Ride’s mission in 1983.